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Monday, July 30, 2012

Encouraging Words

Yesterday I spent the morning worshipping with Pasadena A/G. I have always had a special connection with that church because in addition to being the first church I pastored on staff, it is also my home church. When I was in college and preparing to graduate I wanted to go anywhere on staff but Pasadena A/G. The reason was that all my professors at school warned me it was a bad idea to pastor at your home church. It often creates conflict because of a lack of respect between board members and pastor. Baggage from youthful mistakes can shade the view of the Pastor-leader. But I also spoke with our campus pastor Dr. Earl Baldwin, and he told me that the best experiences he'd ever had with staff pastors were home-grown hires. He encouraged me to do it, and I'm glad he did. I worked for six years at PAG, and loved it.

Over the last couple years of "free-agency", I have appreciated the care, support and warmth that my family and I have received from this special branch of the body of Christ. Yesterday they prayed over me as then sent me out yet again into a church to serve as interim pastor. After service a member came to me and grabbed my hand. He looked me in the eye and shared that he remembered a service in which a guest minister prophesied over me. He simply said, "Ben, I believe it with all my heart."

What a tremendous gift to be surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, and such encouraging words.